Justification:
Little is known about the population and life history characteristics of this species. It has a very widespread distribution in the Indo-West Pacific. It is moderately small and is sought by aquarium fish collectors, but there is no available catch data. It is listed as Least Concern.

This species is found in the Indo-Pacific from the Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan, the Palau Archipelago, New Guinea, New Britain, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Marshall Islands, Poor Knights Islands in New Zealand (probably a vagrant) (Gomon pers. comm. 2006) and Queensland, Australia. It is also recorded from the Maldives, Madagascar and Mauritius (Gomon 2006).

This is a small species, to about 59 mm SL. It is shallow ranging, collected in depths of 30-60 m. Allen (1973) reported the species as “being moderately common” on deep reefs associated with vertical dropoffs in Palau.

It forms small aggregations in soft bottom habitats with sponges and soft corals. The group usually comprising juveniles and females which are dominated by a large male (Kuiter and Tonozuka 2001).

Although there appear to be red and yellow forms of this species, no morphological differences are apparent. B. Russell (pers. comm. 2008) observed juveniles and adults of both living together on deep reefs of Papua New Guinea, but did not see them interact. At depths in excess of 60 m, bright neon yellow individuals occurred in groups around isolated rocks on muddy slopes, and individuals with broader red lines on the flanks were more often seen near ledges or beneath overhangs on drop-offs.